Some People Buy a Sports Car at 56, I Bought Purple Shampoo

There comes a point in life when your youngest child packs up his stuff, heads off to college, and leaves you staring at an echoing house. The silence is deafening. No slamming doors, no stomping feet upstairs, no empty snack wrappers mysteriously multiplying on the counter. Just me, my thoughts, and the dogs… who clearly think I’m not nearly as entertaining as their boy.

You know how some women hit midlife, feel the sting of their last kid moving out, and immediately buy a shiny red convertible? Yeah… I already had the sports car. So I went with the next best cliché: purple shampoo.

Now, before you roll your eyes...yes, I already own a sports car. (One midlife cliché at a time, please.) But I wasn’t expecting my “let’s try something new” shampoo to double as hair dye. One wash later, and I wasn’t a newly liberated empty nester...I was a middle-aged rocker chick with lavender streaks that screamed “she’s going through something.”

Funny thing is, I was going through something. And that purple shampoo fiasco? It was a wake-up call. Not about reading labels (though, let’s be honest, I should have). It was about realizing how easy it is to chase something shiny or different to fill the space our kids leave behind.

Because when your baby heads to college, it’s not just his room that feels empty...it’s your whole routine. No more late-night Whataburger runs. No more slammed doors. No more chaos echoing through the house. Just me, the dogs, and a silence so loud I could hear the ice maker sigh.

And when that silence hits, the temptation is to fill it...with cars, hobbies, distractions, or yes, even hair dye...anything that keeps you from sitting with the ache. But maybe those moments of emptiness aren’t meant to be filled with “stuff” at all. Maybe they’re invitations. Invitations to pause. To listen. To let God remind you that your identity isn’t just “mom,” “chauffeur,” or “short-order cook.” It’s His daughter. Loved. Called. Anchored.

So yes, my hair is back to blonde (thank you to my very patient stylist). But I don’t regret the purple phase. It gave me a good laugh, a reminder not to take myself too seriously, and a story to tell my kids when they tease me about going off the rails after they moved out.

And maybe that’s the real lesson: some people buy sports cars. Some people buy purple shampoo. But all of us...whether we’re mamas with quiet houses, women in the middle of a big life change, or just someone trying to figure out “what’s next”...need to know that God still has a plan for us. And it’s way better than anything Amazon can deliver in two days.

So yes, some people buy sports cars. I bought purple shampoo. But the best “midlife makeover” wasn’t on my head...it was in my heart.